Imperial Navy
The Imperial Navy 'is one of the armed forces of the Imperium of Man. While the Imperial Guard represents the Imperium's ground forces, the Imperial Navy is responsible for the fleets of starships that maintain order between the stars and planets in the Imperium, for all space and air support provided to the infantry of the Imperial Guard, and for transporting those Guardsmen across the galaxy to the Imperium's myriad warzones. The battlefleets of the Imperial Navy are constantly engaging threats both inside and outside the Imperium's borders. Battlefleet Deus Battlefleet Deus is a fleet of Imperial Navy vessels charged with the protection of the Sector Deus. Battlefleet Deus is one of the Frontier Fleets that defend the Northern Galactic reaches of the Imperium of Man. It is a part of the massive Battlefleet Obscurus which operates in Segmentum Obscurus. Known composition of Battlefleet Deus: *'Emperor Class Battleship ''Unbreakable'' :::Flagship of Battlefleet Deus. The Unbreakable dates back to the reclamation crusade in M37 where it served as Saint Belisarius' own flagship, and has nobly served the Sector ever since. Among its more famous endeavours is the prosecution of the Xo'nad worlds, where its waves of attack craft and long-ranged macrocannons engaged the xenos fleet at such a distance that their own plasma-based weapons were ineffective. More recently the Unbreakable under command of Lord Admiral Hagen desolated a Dark Eldar pirate fleet that had been harrying the Sector. Under the Lord Admiral's skilled command his bombers overwhelmed the small xenos ships whilst they were prevented from escaping by a cordon of long-range macrocannons and lances. *'Retribution Class Battleship ''Alexios Komnenos' :::A truly ancient vessel that was transferred to Sector Deus in late M38 after Battlefleet Solar mothballed it in favour of a freshly made hull. Earliest records of this ships exploits date back to M34 where it served in the Pacification of Atheca and the scouring of the Gek homeworlds. Since its transfer to Battlefleet Deus the ''Komnenos has served in the grave containment fleet in Subsector Tyranus and over the centuries has claimed dozens of capital-ship class kills and hundreds of escorts. The scions of chaos across Deus and its neighbouring sectors curse the name Alexios Komnenos. *'Vengeance Class Grand Cruiser ''Stellaris' :::The ''Stellaris has served in Battlefleet Deus since the reclamation crusade, and has avoided being mothballed like many Grand Cruisers due to the relative shortage of new capital ships in the sector. During the crusade itself it served as an escort for the Unbreakable, and in the millenia since has led Tyranus Patrol Group Primus, the chief guards of the Grave who constantly patrol the rim of the warp storm. Stellaris has claimed few capital ship class kills as their detection usually signals an impending attack on Malta, so the patrol group returns to the rest of the fleet to report. But to any escort-class ships trying to escape the grave their ultimate fear is encountering the Stellaris and its wingmen, and the long-range macrocannons of this Grand Cruiser are covered in escort-class kill markings. *'Vengeance Class Grand Cruiser ''Spear of Destiny' :::This Grand Cruiser was originally owned by the Belisarian Dynasty and guarded their palace on Tachion Primaris for millenia, but when the dynasty fell from power the remnants sold the vessel off to the Imperial Navy before moving permanently to Templos. The ''Spear of Destiny continues to guard the Sector capital to this day, maintaining orbit above the hive world and driving away any who would dare venture close without authorisation. *'Mars Class Battlecruiser ''Prosecutor' *'Mars Class Battlecruiser Hoplite' *'Armageddon Class Battlecruiser Reverent Spirit' :::The ''Reverent Spirit was originally a Lunar-Class Cruiser that was hulked during the Third Ionian Crusade and rebuilt with a superior plasma reactor and upgraded weapons systems. It found little use as a patrol ship due to the vessel's now-cramped conditions, and remained as part of Athena Prime's defence fleet for several decades before the Iron Monks managed to install a Captain loyal to them abord the Battlecruiser. Haran Dreifus took advantage of this Captain's loyalty and convinced him to take part in the Betrayal at Varda. But Dreifus lost the battle and fled with the Reverent Spirit, remaining fugitive for almost ten years before the Ghosts of Retribution tracked him down. Easily siezing the vessel from it's demoralised crew (who's mutiny had only been staved off by the religious rhetoric of the skilled orator Dreifus), the Chapter arrested Dreifus and sold the Battlecruiser back to its original owners, the Imperial Navy. *4 Overlord Class Battlecruisers **''Iron Will '' *3 Styx Class Heavy Cruisers *3 Hades Class Heavy Cruisers *15 Lunar Class Cruisers *2 Gothic Class Cruisers *3 Tyrant Class Cruisers *2 Dictator Class Cruisers *2 Dominator Class Cruisers *24 Dauntless Class Light Cruisers *85 Escort Squadrons *30 Scout Sloops *4 Universe-class Mass Conveyors *220 Heavy Transports *~500 Standard Transports Navy Strongholds *Athena Prime - Core Worlds *Praetor IX - Subsector Adamantis *Emperors Rest - Subsector Aeternus *Volitus - Subsector Cryptus *Sygma-477 - Subsector Ionium *Gradburg - Subsector Meridian *Malta - Subsector Tyranus Aeronautica Imperialis The Aeronautica Imperialis is the branch of the Imperial Navy that oversees and undertakes atmospheric operations. In practice Aeronautica wings are attached to Imperial Guard deployments much like any other regiment would be, but technically they are part of the Imperial Navy command structure. In addition, Drop Regiments will have a number of Aeronautica personnel in their structure to operate their Valkyries & Vultures. Each Aeronautica wing is completely self-contained much like Imperial Guard regiments, with not just pilots and aircraft but also ground crew, communications operators and techpriests all required to build, maintain and operate an air base. Aeronautica wings vary in purpose just like Imperial Guard regiments as well. Fighter wings place emphasis on Lightnings & Thunderbolts, Bomber wings will have squadrons of Marauders, and Ground Attack wings will operate Avenger Strike Fighters and Marauder Destroyers. Personnel The vessels of Battlefleet Deus are crewed by millions of Ratings, NCOs and Officers who come from worlds all over the Sector. The duties of a ship's officers vary as much as the functions aboard a ship do. The junior officers will each oversee a relatively small section of a ship commanding a few dozen NCOs and Ratings. They in turn will be commanded by mid-level officers who control entire branches of the vessel's functions. The number of levels of mid-level command varies depending on the size of the ship, with Escorts rarely having more than one level between the Captain and their junior officers but Battleships having potentially a dozen links in their chain of command between the Captain and their ratings. Such a labyrinthine command structure requires a high level of competence and coherency so the Imperial Navy accepts only the best into their numbers, with less qualified recruits usually ending up in the Merchant Fleets. Officers are usually plucked from a number of potential sources including the Schola Progenium, but the most prestigious Naval academies in Sector Deus can be found on the worlds of Inaria, Praetor IX and Emperors Rest. As such a large proportion of the higher ranking Naval officers hail from these worlds, but the much larger number of junior- to mid-level officers can come from potentially any source. Some are humble Ratings who somehow proved themselves worthy of a commission, some may have served in the Merchant Fleets before transferring their skills to employment in the Navy, and others could be members of the Nobility who felt a duty to further the Emperor's glory (or their own, as a commission in any military branch is considered a great boon to the status of any dynasty). Below the officers are the NCOs and basic ratings. These masses of generally unskilled labour can be recruited from any source but most popular are space stations and orbital docks where the inhabitants already have experience living and working in the void. Among this motley and overwhelmingly-male collection the toughest and most competent will be given the opportunity to become one of the ship's armsmen. Armsmen maintain order aboard their ship and defend the vessel from enemy boarding actions, as well as board other ships should the situation call for it. Given the dangerous nature of their work the armsmen are paid substantially more than their crewmen comrades and have much shorter terms of employment before being discharged, as such the majority of mercenary groups in the Sector are made of former Naval armsmen. A subgroup of Naval Armsmen are Naval Stormtroopers. These elite soldiers are trained at specialised academies to the same grade as Imperial Guard Stormtroopers but with extra emphasis on close-quarters battle and void actions. The only Naval Stormtrooper academy in Sector Deus is located on Emperors Rest, and those with the potential are brought here by the Imperial Navy to undergo the extreme training and schooling. Most entrants inevitably wash-out, but those who complete the training are second only to Astartes when it comes to boarding actions and highly proficient in ground operations as well. All Capital Ships in the Sector have at least a few squads of Stormtroopers on board, but the largest ships like the Unbreakable contain entire companies of the elite soldiers to defend their precious ship. The third primary division of a ship's crew are Techpriests. Generally anywhere between 1 and 2 percent of any ship's crew will be techpriests and in Battlefleet Deus the majority of these come from Nestorium as part of the forge world's tithe. The scions of the machine-god usually keep to themselves aboard the ship, rarely leaving the region around the engines and reactor which they typically make their own. The techpriests concern themselves only with the wellbeing of their ship and keeping it running, and show general disinterest in the rest of the crew with the exception of the Captain, who speaks with the authority of the Omnissiah as well as the Emperor to all aboard. Finally, no ship would be warp-capable without a Navigator. Every warship in Battlefleet Deus has at least one Navigator, and most Capital Ships also carry additional Navigators in case the first is rendered incapable. These mutants always travel with a bodyguard of House Serfs, trained servant-soldiers who tend to the needs of the Navigator House they serve and defend their masters should the need arise. The Navigator/s and their serfs occupy quarters around the base of the ship's navigation spire/s, and when the time comes to enter the warp the Navigator will ascend the spire a where they can see the entirety of the warp before them and guide the ship through safely. When at warp every soul aboard the ship is at the whims of their Navigator so they are considered the ultimate authority - above even the Captain - when inside the immaterium. Battlefleet Deus sources the majority of its Navigators from House Jaenar. Battlefleet Deus also maintains its own fleet of transports, used primarily for transporting Imperial Guard troops, materiel and other Departmento Munitorum services. Though much smaller than the colossal Merchant Fleets the Imperial Navy operates a higher proportion of heavy transports for more reliable mass-transportation, and their convoys are well-guarded. Also among the crews of some Navy ships (mostly their transports) are vast banks of criminal slaves made up of deserters, captured pirates and crewmen convicted of some terrible crime. They perform the most menial of labour aboard the ship such as hauling supplies, unskilled maintainence and generally doing any task a passing officer or NCO demands of them. Such ships tend to keep a much larger complement of Armsmen to maintain order among the prisoner-slaves. Heirarchy & Notable Personnel Officers *'Lord Admiral' - The leader of all Naval assets in a given large sector. Current Lord Admiral of Sector Deus is Tyrel Hagen. *'Admiral' - The leader of all Naval assets in a given subsector or subsectors (with the exception of the Core Worlds, for which the Lord Admiral holds direct control), or the entirety of a small sector. Current Admirals of Sector Deus: **'Amos Heffin' - Admiral of Subsector Tyranus and almost ancient by mortal reckoning (born approx. 020.M41). Heffin began his Naval career as a lowly Maltan rating, but after many years as an NCO he almost miraculously managed to best a Chaos Space Marine in close combat during a boarding action and was given a commission for his heroism. The prestige from this almost-legendary feat sent him soaring up the ranks, and at almost a century of age he found himself as Admiral. Heffin has commanded the sizeable fleet that watches The Grave for over two further centuries since and as a native Maltan he sees containing the foul forces that dwell within as his ultimate duty, as such he declined several offers for promotion to Lord Admiral as it would drag his attention away from the warp storm. He commands from the Retribution-class Battleship Alexios Komnenos and among his greatest achievements is leading the defence of Malta's orbit from a massive renegade fleet and destroying it before any ship could make planetfall, with the Komnenos personally destroying or hulking a renegade Grand Cruiser, two Heavy Cruisers and half a dozen lesser capital ships. **'Cyra Xerant' - Admiral of Subsector Adamantis and a member of the Xerant Dynasty. Cyra oversees the defence of the galactic rim with his fleet constantly patrolling the edge of the sector. On occasion some scouting party of marauding xenos that occupy the rim will be detected, but Xerant's swift response quickly sends them running or destroyed. Cyra holds special hatred for the world of Haven, its independent nature making it a breeding ground and base for pirates that are a constant thorn in his side. But pacifying Haven would require an enormous investment of resources the Sector needs elsewhere. **'Ona Pelial' - Admiral of Subsectors Cryptus and Meridian. As an orphan in the Schola Progenium Pelial showed exceptional aptitude for naval command which was quickly picked up on by her Drill Abbess. She was transferred to the Naval Academy on Praetor IX and graduated as the best-in-class, earning her a presitgious commission in the Imperial Navy where she earned several promotions in quick succession. As commander of a patrol group in the space around Tartarus Pelial was responsible for relieving over a hundred Chartist vessels under attack by pirates, sending the raiding scum fleeing at the first sight of her light cruiser and its augmented engines with many ending up captured or destroyed. Over the course of thirty years Subsector Cryptus saw a 58% drop in piratical activity thanks to her efforts and Pelial was promoted to Admiral in response, making her the highest ranked female officer in the sector (which number roughly a fifth of all naval officers). She still usually commands from her modified Dauntless-class Light Cruiser Blade of Vengeance, which with 40% extra engine output is by far the swiftest capital ship in the Sector, and many a foolish raider has attempted to outrun Pelial only to find her ship actually overtaking them before disgorging waves of armsmen onto their hull to kill or capture the criminals within. Though for true fleet battles she transfers to Cryptus' flagship, the Mars-class Battlecruiser Hoplite. **'Agemmar Tenso' - Admiral of Subsectors Ionium, Dominus and Aeternus. Tenso hails from a minor dynasty of the Nobility from Emperors Rest, and he was most of the way through training to become a Naval Stormtrooper when his strategic acumen was noticed and he was put into the naval officer academy instead. The highly-trained infantryman was uneasy in the classes of theory and politics and during duelling classes he became infamous for 'fighting dirty', never hesitating to knee the crotch or jab the throat of his opponent if it gave him the upper hand (just as he was trained to by the supremely pragmatic stormtrooper school). Nevertheless Agemmar's sheer talent could not be denied and he graduated exceptionally. After serving time as a junior officer in a painfully mundane border patrol ship, Tenso refused a promotion in exchange for a transfer to Subsector Tyranus in a risky gambit. However once he was a junior officer aboard one of the Lunar-class Cruisers patrolling the grave he proved his exceptional mettle and skill-at-arms, always volunteering to lead boarding parties and the first to the defense when his ship came under attack by raiders from the grave. Such fearlessness and skill earned him the respect of his commanders and Tenso rocketed up the ranks until he was Commodore and Admiral Heffin's XO/Master-at-Arms. When Admiral Sanforth, former commander of Subsectors Ionium, Dominus and Aeternus, retired to govern Emperors Rest in 345.M41 Tenso was promoted to replace him on Heffin's recomendation. Thus far the only action his subsectors have faced is minor piracy in Dominus, but Tenso has refrained from simply obliterating Caseblanco as it would scatter the pirates there into a number of different bases and make them harder to detect and patrol against. *'Commodore' - This rank is held by an Admiral's chosen second-in-command or temporarily given to a Captain who has been selected to lead a force of multiple capital ships. Notable Commodores of Sector Deus: **'Nadia Xerant' - Serves under her father Cyra in Subsector Adamantis. Early in Nadia's career she garnered a significant amount of animosity from her comrades due to her rapid and generally undeserved promotions (courtesy of her father). Such talk of nepotism was silenced when the young Xerant's cruiser came under attack by Eldar Corsairs while on a supposedly mundane patrol route. As Captain, Nadia coordinated the defence of her ship expertly - the extensive naval training of her youth finally given opportunity to display itself. After hulking one of the corsair vessels and sending the other fleeing a small unit of corsairs that had infiltrated her vessel tried to take the bridge, knowing that capturing the vessel was their only chance for survival. When the half-dozen inhumanly swift warriors assaulted her bridge almost all were cut down by overwhelming numbers of armsmen before the leader reached the one he identified as Captain (hoping that killing the captain might give him some claim to the vessel or at least terrify the lower beings enough to submit) and engaged her in combat. Xerant fought defiantly against the Eldar as her armsmen struggled to get a clear shot into the melee, but the xeno was simply too swift and strong for her to best conventionally. With certain death approaching with every parry, Nadia directed the Eldar's blade into her own shoulder and let it impale her to the hilt. As Nadia screamed in pain and the Corsair was stunned in disbelief she plunged her own sword deep into the xenos flank until it emerged out the other, killing him instantly. Nadia survived her wound and to this day wears the six filled soulstones of the corsair boarding party around her neck. But her father was deeply troubled by the near-death of his only child and since the event she has been his XO, with the Admiral rarely letting her out of his sight. *'Captain' - Rank held by those who command either a single capital ship or a squadron of escorts. Notable Captains: **'Tangent Gray - '''Experienced shipmaster hailing from the distant world of Elysia. Commands the Overlord-class Battlecruiser ''Iron Will **'Havern Locke - '''Major contributor to the defense of Artoria in Operation Wild Hunt as Captain of Amber Squadron, Locke was given command of the Lunar-Class Cruiser ''Battleborn as reward for his conduct. *'Commander' - Rank held by those who command an escort or are executive officer of a capital ship. *'Lieutenant-Commander' - Mid-level officers. Usually executive officers of escorts and multiple-section commanders in capital ships. *'Lieutenant' - Junior officers who command a single section of ratings. Varies from 1st to 3rd class depending on the size and importance of the section. Leading armsman sections is considered the most prestigious junior officer position but also the toughest. *'Ensign' - A rank held by recent academy-graduates who earn experience alongisde true Lieutenants before being given a real command. Non-Commissioned Officers & Ratings/Armsmen *'Warrant Officer' - The most senior rank attainable without a commission, warrant officers are seasoned veterans of the Imperial Navy who serve as right-hand men to their respective officer, and it is a foolish Lieutenant who disregards their advice. *'Chief Petty Officer' - A Lieutenant and Warrant Officer's immediate underlings, they roar the commands of their leaders to the section and if part of an armsman section they will lead individual squads in battle. *'Petty Officer' - Each Petty Officer commands five or six voidsmen/armsmen. *'Voidsman/Armsman' - The lowest official rank on an Imperial Navy ship, varying from least to most senior as 2nd class, 1st class, Leading and Senior. Armsman technically outrank Voidsmen in combat situations. *'Slave' - An unofficial rank and the lowest of the low aboard an Imperial Navy vessel. The general treatment of slaves is extremely poor but the armsmen assigned to prevent any mutinies among them also serve to keep them somewhat safe from predations of the ships own crew. This only remains true for slaves who were once Naval personnel such as deserters, those who struck an officer or killed another rating. Slaves who were once pirates garner no such protection from their guards, and angry ratings raiding the slave pens to beat, abuse, rape and sometimes just murder former-pirates is far from rare. Battlefleet Paxia Battlefleet Paxia serves and protects Sector Paxia. Due to the Sector's nature, only a dozen cruisers comprise the fleet's battle line, while the vast majority of the fleet is comprised of light cruisers and escort squadrons. It is not uncommon for Battlefleet Paxia to answer calls for aid from neighboring sectors with a swarm of escort squadrons led by a light cruiser. Taskforce Corgus Seconded from neighboring Battlefleet Paxia, Taskforce Corgus serves and protects Sector Corgus. Category:Imperial Navy